Not sure if this is the right place, but a guy at work was talking about fully automatic guns and suppressors... Honestly, I think he's a moron, but I just wanted to know if anybody knew the laws on these for Texas.

Dunno about Texas, but Nebraska is pretty NFA friendly. Get the Form 4's and CLEO signature (or form a trust) and pay your $200 tax, and you can have a pre-1986 macnine gun (if you can afford it, as they are pricey), buy or make a short barreled rifle or shotgun, buy a suppressor (there's several dealers selling them in my area) ..... it's not illegal, just more complicated than just walking in and buying a gun.

__________________
TheGolden Rule of Tool Use: "If you don't know what you are doing, DON'T."

All NFA weapons are legal in Texas. You do need to research it, you don't need a license or a permit, you do need to be able to legally own a gun, you do need your local chief law enforcement officer to sign off, or start up an NFA trust (typically about $500.00 to do it right), you do need to submit the paperwork to the ATF and wait 6-8 months and you do need to pay a $200.00 tax stamp per item other than AOWs, which require only a $5.00 tax stamp to transfer. There also dealer to dealer transfers if your NFA dealer doesn't have what you want.

It isn't difficult or illegal, you just have to do all of the paperwork, get all of the proper sign-offs and pay Uncle Sam $200.00.

Thanks. I'm not interested, just wondering because I thought you could own one but not fire it legally for some reason. But there was other stuff said I no wasn't right, so this is clearing it up for me.

There are places where they are legal to own, but not to use. Washington state was like this, you could legally own one after going through the ATF process, but they were still illegal to fire in Washington state. I know of a guy who traveled to Idaho to shoot with his can. I believe that law changed this year and they're ok in WA now.

Here in Texas they've even legalized them for deer hunting, I can't wait for November!

A summary: State and local laws are changing all the time, but in general, full auto weapons have never been illegal in the United States, but they have been in some states/cities. The National Firearms Act, which dates to 1934, requires registration (not licensing); transfer of a full auto weapon requires payment of a $200 tax and approval of the BATFE. In 1986, a change to the law froze further registration of automatic weapons for other than government agencies; the result has been much demand chasing too few legal weapons, and the price has gone way up.

This email link is to reach site administrators for assistance, if you cannot access TFL via other means. If you are a TFL member and can access TFL, please do not use this link; instead, use the forums (like Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support) or PM an appropriate mod or admin.

If you are experiencing difficulties posting in the Buy/Sell/Trade subforums of TFL, please read the "sticky" announcement threads at the top of the applicable subforum. If you still feel you are qualified to post in those subforums, please contact "Shane Tuttle" (the mod for that portion of TFL) via Private Message for assistance.

This email contact address is not an "Ask the Firearms Expert" service. Such emails will be ignored. If you have a firearm related question, please register and post it on the forums.